In the food and confectionery industries, many sweetener ingredients, such as sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, glucose, mannitol and the like and other saccharides, are employed in both powder and liquid form. Some sweeteners, particularly sorbitol, are provided in two different forms, since some products may be manufactured only by using a liquid, and some products may be manufactured only by using a powder. For example, in a sugarless, hard candy, a sweetener is used in a high-solid, liquid form, while, in sugarless or dietetic chocolate-containing products, a sweetener, such as sorbitol, has been employed in powder form. Highly concentrated, liquid-sorbitol syrups, for example, have not been able to be employed in making dietetic or sugarless chocolate products. Thus food and confectionery manufacturers must purchase and use sweeteners, such as sorbitol, in both liquid and solid form. The liquid-sorbitol form as purchased typically comprises about 70% solids, while the powdered sorbitol typically is purchased at about 98% solids or higher. Direct production of crystalline sorbitol from a molten- or liquid-sorbitol solution is difficult, because of the hydroscopic nature of the sorbitol and because of the tendency, on cooling, for the sorbitol melt to set up rapidly into a hard, glassy condition. Powdered sorbitol has a significantly higher cost per pound than a liquid-sorbitol solution.
In the manufacture of some confectionery products, such as, for example, chocolate-containing products, such as dietetic chocolate bars, moisture is not desired, and, therefore, powdered sweeteners must be employed. On employing a powdered sweetener, such as sorbitol, the finished chocolate or other product typically should not contain crystals of the sweetener which are large enough to be felt or detected by the tongue of the consumer. Thus it is desirable to have sweetener crystals with a particle size of 5 microns or less.
Common chocolate-processing equipment used industry-wide comprises a mixer which mixes together most of the ingredients and a refiner which, thereafter, refines the particle size of the crystalline sweetener to a lower size, such as to the 5-micron size or less. An emulsifier is then employed to distribute and mix the refined ingredients with the balance of the ingredients that either are not required in the refining process or where no refining requirement is needed. A conch is then used which, by its continuous moving of the mixer, removes some additional moisture or unwanted acids and improves the smoothness of the product.
Typically, the ingredients involved in the current manufacturing of chocolate comprise cocoa butter or vegetable fats, chocolate liquid, milk powder or milk fats, sugar or a sugar substitute, such as sorbitol where a dietetic chocolate product is desired, and lecithin and additional flavoring and other additive and modifying agents. In general, all of the above ingredients, with the exception of the sugar and sorbitol, can be obtained commercially in a low, micron particle size and, therefore, do not necessarily require refinement in the refiner.
The employment of crystalline or powdered commercial sorbitol is an additional high cost in the manufacture of such products and further requires the use of a refiner to reduce the crystal size of the sweetener, so that the sweetener crystals may not be detected by the consumer. For example, in the manufacture of dietetic milk-chocolate bars, powdered sorbitol is incorporated in a mixing blender, where materials are thoroughly mixed in dry form, except for the omission of some fats, such as phospholipids like lecithin and cocoa butter, a portion of which is retained for later incorporation into the product, and flavoring which may be added at a different stage of the operation. After thoroughly blending together the dry materials in the mixing blender, the blended material is then sent to a refiner for reduction of the crystal size of the sorbitol. A chocolate refiner often comprises a plurality of hydraulic-pressure rollers, for example operating at 300 to 500 pounds per square inch through which the dry, blended admixture is passed. After removal from the hydraulic-pressure rollers of the refiner, the blended material then is sent through an emulsifier where additional lipid materials, such as lecithin, are added and mixed, as well as the remaining cocoa butter and flavoring. Optionally, the material may be processed in a conch, and, thereafter, the product is cast, cooled, packaged and sold.
In the present commercial practice, which requires two forms of sweeteners, the difficulties associated with the present production processing of commercial powdered sweeteners, such as sorbitol, and the additional capital equipment and cost in the preparation of certain products make it most desirable to provide a process for the preparation of a sweetener of low particle size and a process for the use of such a sweetener for the preparation of food and confectionery products, particularly wafers, chocolate bars, chewing gum and sugarless candies. The present invention provides a process which is low in cost, simple and more direct and which avoids the use of additional equipment and additional processing steps, as currently required to be employed in the production of confectionery products.